Deputy Premier Peter Ryan has been stripped of his contentious police portfolio in a Cabinet reshuffle announced by new Premier Denis Napthine today.

Mr Ryan keeps his duties as Deputy Premier and takes on the new portfolio of Regional and Rural Development and State Development.

Dr Napthine says Mr Ryan is "excited" about his new role.

"He came forward and discussed with me the future," the Premier said.

"He said he was very keen to take this very significant leadership role as Minister for State Development, so he could extend the great work he's been doing in regional and rural development across the whole of Victoria."

The Opposition had been calling for Mr Ryan to be removed after one of his advisers was sacked for being involved in a row that led to the resignation of the former police chief commissioner Simon Overland.

The affair led, in part, to the resignation of the former premier Ted Baillieu last week, who did not want a front bench role.

Kim Wells, who was previously the Treasurer, now takes over the police portfolio from Mr Ryan. He held the police portfolio in opposition.

Michael O'Brien, formerly the Energy and Resources Minister, now takes over as Treasurer.

The Premier says the difference between him and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews is that he chose his own team and is not beholden to the factional warlords.

"The right people in the right places make this state even better," he said.

However Richard Dalla Riva, who held the Industrial Relations and Manufacturing jobs has lost his portfolio.

Dr Napthine says there are a limited number of positions and "we need to keep the right people in the right positions."

He has named Anna Cronin as his interim chief of staff and will restructure the office to suit his style.

Bayswater MP Heidi Victoria and Kilsyth MP David Hodgett were promoted to the front bench.

Ms Victoria will take on the Arts portfolio and Mr Hodgett gets Ports, Major Projects and Manufacturing.

Ryan out

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews is glad to see the police portfolio taken from Mr Ryan but says the Premier should have gone further.

"This is, first and foremost, a massive slap in the face for Deputy Premier, Peter Ryan," he said.

"While I think all Victorians will be pleased to see Peter Ryan out of the Police and Emergency Services portfolios, it's a great shame that Denis Napthine didn't have the courage to go all the way and get Mr Ryan out of the cabinet."

Mr Andrews says Health Minister David Davis, Education Minister Martin Dixon and the Minister for Higher Education, Peter Hall, should not have kept their jobs given the long industrial disputes involving teachers and paramedics.

The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) says it hopes the new treasurer will foster private sector investment in infrastructure.

VECCI spokesman Mark Stone says Mr O'Brien seems to be a good choice.

"Governments are no longer able to afford all the infrastructure we want," he said.

"I think there are some opportunities there for a new treasurer to go about the job in a different way and see whether they can open up a few other opportunities for the state."

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.